The ratings are in for ABC's much-vaunted The One: Making of a Music Star -- and they stink. In Canada, last night's two-hour debut simulcast on CBC-TV eked out an average 236,000 viewers per minute according to the Nielsen overnights, leading into the bumped edition of The National at 11 which earned 556,000. (The other telecasts of The National on Newsworld and the main channel managed another 150,000 each, clearly demonstrating that Canadians are desperate for news about the mess in the Middle East.)
As for The One's ratings in the U.S., they too sucked, fitting for a show that blew.
“One” became the lowest-rated new summer reality series debut this season, more than half a point below the debut of CBS’s “Tuesday Night Book Club” last month.
The program dipped all the way to a 0.9 rating in its second half hour before rebounding to a 1.2 at 10 p.m. It finished behind even Univision during its two-hour run.
“Club” and “Guy” were both yanked after a handful of outings. “Champions” remains on the schedule after dipping to a 1.2 last week.
“One,” which is based on a Spanish-language series from Endemol, puts 11 wannabe singers in a house and watches them compete both on and off the stage for a recording contract. It’s different from “American Idol” in that cameras follow the contestants 24 hours a day, meaning the show is a blend of singing and soap opera.
Perhaps ABC simply premiered the show too late. There are already three summer programs, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” Univision’s “Cantando Por un Sueno” and CBS’s “Rock Star: Supernova” showcasing wannabe singers.
The One is an absolute disaster. Everybody I have talked to today feels terrible for host George Stroumboulopoulos -- or George S. as ABC prefers him here. What happened to his nose ring? His hanging wallet on a Home Hardware neck chain? His t-shirt look? As one friend put it, they put him in a strait-jacket, literally and figuratively, with an uncomfortable looking black sports coat that he fiddled with all night.
But, and it's a big but, he is the only thing worth watching on the show. I only hope he survives the experience and makes a stink about the inanities he is obviously forced forced to perform.
The judges ''Mentors'' came straight out of American Idol central casting, and they love themselves a little too much. The contestants are pathetic. The music is dated. The sound, as one viewer wrote, ''is so low and buried that it's as if it was an afterthought, sounding like one of those background house bands 30 years ago on the Sonny and Cher Show or The Osmonds."
As for the message boards, OMG. Do the kids ever hate this show!
All this is up against a truly good reality show, Mark Burnett's Rockstar on CBS, the real deal. It sounds amazing, the house band rocks, the judges know what they're talking about, and the production and website are vastly superior.
How does CBC get out of this mess? What happens when ABC starts bouncing it around its schedule in order to save it? Will the Canadian version be doomed because of the stench around the ABC edition?
Looks like CBC-TV executive row has a steaming pile sitting right on its front step.
UPPITY DATE: CTV just put out a release boasting of its ratings last night. Compare and contrast!
Last night's Canadian Idol Results Episode was the most-watched prime-time program in Canada. The episode, in which Top 10 finalist Kati Durst was eliminated, was watched by 1.24 million viewers (2+), 32 per cent more viewers than watched Rock Star: Supernova (Global, 9-10 p.m. with 938,000 viewers) and 424 per cent more viewers than watched the series premiere of The One (CBC/ABC, 9-11p.m. with 236,000 viewers).
Overall, CTV delivered the Top 3 most-watched primetime programs last night (Canadian Idol, Law & Order: SVU at 1.12 million and Criminal Minds at 943,000) and the most watched program of the day CTV Evening News (1.29 million).
For CTV, Canadian Idol continues its ride as Summer's #1 program. Monday's Top 10 performance episode attracted a season-high 1.96 million viewers, peaking at 2.2 million in the last half-hour. Now halfway through the 2006 Summer Season, CTV programs account for all 10 of the Top 10 programs in Canada. They are:
1. Canadian Idol (Performance) 1.7 million
2. Canadian Idol (Results) 1.6 million
3. CSI 1.413 million
4. America's Got Talent (Performance) 1.405 million
5. So You Think You Can Dance (Thurs) 1.39 million
6. Law & Order: SVU 1.37 million
7. CTV Evening News 1.29 million
8. CSI Miami 1.28 million
9. CSI: New York 1.22 million
10. Gameshow Marathon (Thurs) 1.01 million
Source: Nielsen Media Research, June 5/06 - July 16/06 (6 wks)
And here's the Global spin:
-Rock Star: Supernova both won the night as the #1 program nationally among adults 18-49 - topping Canadian Idol and The One - AND dominated the 9pm-10pm time period nationally for Tuesday, July 18.
-Notably, 'Rock Star' outperformed CBC's The One by more than 3 to 1 in total viewers and 5 to one amongst A18-49 nationally.
-In addition, last night's highly anticipated third week of 'Rock Star' performances featuring Vancouverite Jenny Galt and Torontonian Lukas Rossi, bested its own winning ratings from last week by 19%.
(Source: BBM Canada - 2+ - unless otherwise stated)
Bottom Line?
The One ain't.
UPMOST DATE: Here's the official word from CBC's official blog.
Stroumboulopoulos seemed like a natural on set — even bold enough to cut off the judges (Favourite Strombo line: "Okay! We get it, we get it, we get it, we get it!") . In the show message boards, he was pretty much ignored, though, except for one chatter who liked him.
ABC, on the other hand, managed to screw up the critical opening minutes of the live show with major production glitches like mics shutting off, the video feed dropping right out, and levels between singers in the opening song varying wildly. It looked like a show that had been rushed into production without much opportunity for rehearsal. The crew seemed to get it together in the last half.
Judging from the comments, most CBCers seem ashamed.
George, we still love you.




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